READY IN 30 mins

Down Home Macaroni and Cheese

Read Reviews (617)

"Try this delicious, quick and reliable side dish for any night of the week." — Kraft Foods

Directions

Melt 3 tablespoons of the butter in large saucepan on low heat. Blend in flour and salt; cook and stir 1 minute. Gradually add milk; cook, stirring constantly, until thickened. Add prepared cheese product and 1-1/2 cups of the shredded cheese; stir until melted. Stir in macaroni.
Pour into lightly greased 1-1/2-quart casserole. Melt remaining 1 Tablespoon butter; toss with bread crumbs. Sprinkle casserole with remaining 1/2 cup cheese and bread crumb mixture.
Bake at 350 degrees F for 20 minutes or until thoroughly heated.

Kitchen-Friendly View

PREP 10 mins
COOK 20 mins
READY IN 30 mins

Footnotes

© KF Holdings. Used with permission.

Reviews More Reviews

Most Helpful Positive Review

Jun 05, 2005

Outstanding! After reading all 259 reviews this is what I did: (note, I doubled the recipe) I lightly sprayed a 13x9 pyrex with cooking spray, I measured out 4 cups of dry elbow macaroni, cooked this is boiling salty water for approximately 15 minutes. Drained in colander. Meanwhile, in same pot as the macaroni was boiled, I melted the butter (1 stick minus 2 Tbs), added the flour gradually (1/2 cup) and whisked constantly. I then added the milk slowly (4 cups), whisking constantly. I then added 1 lb of Velveeta that I had cubed, 2 tsp of garlic salt, 3/4 tsp of pepper, a dash of dry mustard and a shake of cayenne pepper. After the velveeta had melted I then added 3 cups of shredded cheddar cheese. Once all was melted together and stirred thoroughly I added the cooked macaroni. Placed in the dish, topped with reserved 2 Tbs of melted butter tossed with crushed buttery round crackers. Baked at 350 for 35 minutes. This was perfection! Great comfort food!

—Butterfly Flutterby

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Most Helpful Critical Review

Aug 07, 2003

It was an average homemade macaroni & cheese. My only suggestion is to only cook your noodles for half the time - so they are not already "done" when you put them in the oven. If you only "half cook" them before baking when they come out of the oven they are not mushy but al dente. I always do this when a recipe calls for a cooked noodle to go in the oven, it turns out much better.

—KATHYLC

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738 Ratings

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Oct 14, 2006

I've been using this as my primary mac and cheese recipe for years and everyone raves on how good it is. I just HAVE to make it for all family functions. I'm from the south and we take mac and cheese seriously down here. This recipe is a heck of alot easier than some and not near as dry. Sometimes i use the velveeta, sometimes i don't(when i don't have it on hand) and it doesn't make too much of a difference. THe velveeta is what makes it so creamy i think. I also add more cheese, maybe half acup. I usually forgo the cracker crumbs but a shortcut around baking it for so long is just putting in uder the broiler. Also let it set for a few minutes after browning so it can set up a little. THe cheese will run everywhere it you cut into it immediately. My husband has banned all boxed varieties from thehouse and has because quite the mac and cheese snob thanks to this yummy and easy recipe.

—TIGERTRAX3

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Apr 30, 2011

I didn't have any of this but Hubs did and the man of few words said it was "very, very good - crunchy and creamy." And when asked how many stars he assigned it five without hesitation. Since he's pretty stingy with stars that must have been some darned good macaroni and cheese. Too bad it's no longer in the AR line-up. http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Down-Home-Macaroni-and-Cheese/Detail.aspx

—naples34102

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Oct 02, 2003

YUM YUM YUM! This is very good. I have made this several times already. My son aks me to make this, no more boxed stuff. I cut down on the prp time by making the white sauce in the micowave oven, it wont scorch in there, and dosent have to be stirred all the time, 6 minutes tops and its down. Very good! Thanks for the great receipe!

—Kathy

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Mar 04, 2004

We liked this pretty well. For the reviewer that commented about the floury taste, be sure to let milk and flour mixture lightly boil, stirring constantly, for at least 3 - 5 minutes before adding the cheese, this procedure cooks the flour taste out. I used Panko breadcrumbs for crispiness.

—Wilemon

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Dec 17, 2003

This may be the best recipe I have gotten off this site! I have never had such amazing mac and cheese. This will be my recipe forever and may start going to pot lucks. I really can't say enough about how cheesy it is! I used Velveeta Light too and it worked fine. I wanted to get in the casserole dish and eat my way out. This is THE macaroni and cheese!

—DAUGHTEROFSARAH

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Dec 26, 2003

I have been making this for a while now and it is one of my favorite dishes. I double the recipe and use 3 bricks of my favorite cheese (usally sharp cheddar) instead of velvetta. You can also just boil the noodles first and then do everything right in the pot with them( the butter, flour and so on) With a double recipe just pur into a 9 by 13 inch pan and cook for 35 minutes or till cheese is getting brown and bubbly at the edges.

—nikki

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